Greetings from San Bernab Vista Hermosa, Guatemala

1
Greetings from San Bernabé Vista Hermosa,
Guatemala!
San Bernabé is a small mountain village in
Guatemala. It was founded on March 13, 1986, by
farm workers fleeing the violence of the civil
war that targeted the indigenous population.
Sixteen young families obtained a loan from an
organization to buy the property on which the
village sits. After one year in which they ate
solely corn tortillas and lived in nylon tents,
only 6 families remained. These families form
the core of the village and its over 250 current
residents.
2
  The majority of the villagers work in the
countryside cultivating crops. Those few who
earn a salary receive approximately 8 per day.
It is a hard life but one that is necessary in
order to feed their families.
3
The village has a small elementary school where
the children study up to the sixth grade. The
government provided to the school last year only
one teacher to teach 53 students in grades 1
through 6! The students had NO library books in
their school and there are no public libraries
where they can check out books to read.
4

• The older children were required to travel, on
  their own, to larger municipalities to attend
  junior high and high school. There are no public
  schools in this part of the country. Their
  parents must therefore pay a portion of their 8
  per day salary for tuition. A secondary
  education, without assistance, is therefore
  impossible for the majority of the students who
  live in San Bernabé due to their economic
  circumstances. The Coghill Foundation provided
  scholarships to 19 students this year to attend
  junior high and high school. Due to the poor
  education at the nearby schools, however, they
  studied together in the elementary school an
  additional 2 hours every night and 4 hours on
  Saturdays and Sundays. Many of them have NEVER
  had a novel to read. They read only handouts
  from their teachers, assignments on the white
  board and newspapers.

5
The community is therefore building, with the
economic assistance of others, a junior high in
the village in which the students can continue
their studies, with a computer lab and a space
for a future library for the entire community.
We appreciate any assistance that you may be able
to provide in this effort.
6
(No Transcript)